Contract With Americorps

Updated Feb. 7, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

Let us stipulate for the record: We tried to like Americorps.

We're all for a "culture of responsibility." And count us in for unleashing America's "armies of compassion." But a 50% budget increase for Bill Clinton's pet national service program is another matter, though that is precisely what President Bush slipped into the State of the Union.